Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1887-02-11
OLYMPIA TERRITORY EVENING FEBRUARY II, 1887

! the object Of which is indicated in the
! title hy reference only 10 the section ui
/ HE code Intended Ia he amcu,i1d. Il COM
! pliancc " Ilh This mandatory dirccilSn:
The language of our oi mauic act l. ldcn-
| tlcal with that used in the constitution Oi
/ New JERSEY. In each OF the states oi Mill
ne>"ta, Kansas, kcnlu XIV, Nebraska, Ala
! ,ama. South Carnlini, Tennessee and Ar
! kausa>, the language Ot the constitution Is
No Law shal. embrace more than one sub
| irci, which shall br cNpresS'd in lt>
title In Michigan the language is the
same except that the word ""hjcct is
used instead of "sul,j"Ci." The language
in Wisconsin and New York is. NO local
or private bill which may Ec passed bN
| the lcgi Stature shall cmbr zee innI ia an
one subject ami that shall he cNprcss,-d in
the title California, Texas, Indiana, Or
""un and Iowa have provisions similar I"
Kentucky and the other >t,l'.> III lndt
class with the addition that If any sub
irct shall hc embraced i'll an act which
shall not he expressed in the title such
act shall he void only as to 80 much there
of as shall not be expressed in its title
The following, taken from the language
| of !he Court Will indicate the purl">c Tor
which such constitutional restrictions
were adopted: Il would observe that the
tr..dilinnary history of this CLAUSE is, that
il was inserted in Tie constitution Oi l19S
At the instance OF General james jackson,
and that is necessity was suggested by
the laZoo act; that memorable measure
of the seventeenth af January, l191, rs is
well known, WAS smugglcd through the
legislature under the caption ~f an act
"frf the payment of the late state troops
| ,t,. . Inc I ,,,,,,,l. -, MnrAr -
nah rs State, 4 Ga. 26,:
| The purpose to he effected hv this see
ton was tn prevent the incorporation in
one bill, of provisions Of a nature totally
diverse and without necessary connection,
with view To effect Il general combina-
tion of the particular friends of each
measure and thereby secure their enact
ment, when some or all of them would
| likely fail if left 10 stand on their own
merits and also the cn'rappinr of lcgiS-
lators into the support of bill into which
| hy dcXtcrou- management some insdious
| provision had been inserted of which ;he
| title gave no iniimatiOn." (\lhrccht rs.
State; Tex, rp. 2l6)
"ThcSe provisions were adopted IT, pre-
vent the legislature from passing what are
| commonly known as omnibus bills "
| (Fletchcr ~. Oliver, - Ark. 1892.
"Thc nlirc Of this provision WAS, that
neither the members of the legislature nor
the people should he mislcd by the title"
| (Sun Mutual Insurance company rs. Mayor
etc, of New York, 8 N. Y. 239).
| THE intent of this provision of the con
stitutiOn was 10 prevent the union in the
| same act of incongruOuS matters, and of
objects having no connection or relation
And with this il was designed to prevent
surprise in legislation hy having matters
of one nature embraced in bill whose
title expressed another" Estate cs County
Judge; , Iowa, 2G0)
| THE object of this constitutional pro.
| vision wa, to require so clear an expires
sion of the subject of the bill in the title
that il would at once apprisc legislators
and others interested of the precise subject
of the proposed legisla,ion." (Citv of
Kansas rs. Payne; II Mo. l59)
| Mr.. Cody, after an examination of all
| the authorities sums up the object and
! purpose of such provision thus: 1T NAV,
therefore. be assumed as settled that the
purpose of these provisions was: first. to
prevent hodge -Nodge or log rolling lc.is-
lation; second to prevent surprise or fraud
upon the legislature by means of provs-
ons in bills of which the titles gave no
intima'ion, and which might therefore be
overlooked and very carelesslv and
unintrn,ionally adopted: and third, To
fairly apprSe the people, through such
publication of Legislative proceedings as
! iSu> ually made, of the subjects of legiSla-
tion that are being considered, in order
that they may have opportunity OF being
heard therein by petition or otherwise. if
they shall so desire" (Coolev's Constitu
tioHal Limitations: + edition, 113)
The provisions If our organic act now
under consideration was adopted hv con
grc>S in view Of all these provisions of the
state constitutions, with which, and with
the construction of which, senators and
members were entirely familiar. and un-
louhtcdlv the purpose to bc accomplished
WAS the same as that accomplished hv the
state constitutions An attempt has been
made hy some to draw a distinction he
ca,sc the act of congress used the word
"onjcct while most of the State cons;itu-
tinns Use the word subject" We have
seen that the constitutions of Michigan
and New Jersey Use the word object and
rs the former state is the home of MIR
Celby, that eminent jurist, in stating the
purpose Of all these provisions, would
most likely have seen and stated the dis
tinctiOn if one in fact exists. Moreover,
if any distinction is to he made, il seems
To me that the word "objcct' in the con-
ncctien in which it is used, is obviously
1T broader significance than the were!
"snhjcct." Object may he nsed as having
hc sense of eilect-the thing intended To-
he accomplished; not the means by which
il is to be accomplished which is proper
" the subject. For instance the object of
the act in question was 10 confer the cleo
tive franchise on females; its subject was
the subject matter on which, in accom-
plshing that object, the legislative will
operated, namely, the section of the code
defining the qualifications of electors
do not, however, lay particular stress on
the use of the word "ohject" instead of
subject" in our organic act For all
practical purposes the words are synonv-
nous as indicated by Mr.. Cooley
In applying the provisions in state con-
stiiutiUaS the courts have uniformly held
that very general statement in the title
of the purposes of the law will be suffi.
cicnt. Still, it is held that the titles must
afford some indication at least of the OBJ
ject of the laws or the effects of their pro-
visions. The object or subject which the
title shall express must he set forth with
sufficient fullncss Ia give the members
who are to vote on the law, and the people
for whom they vote, some idea of the
change which the new law proposes to
make. \ very mcagre expression will be
sutfic icnt but some expression there must
be. The expression of a purpose to amend
n particular section of the code gives it 10
be understood that the law is to be chang.
ed; but what the law is that is to bc
changed, and in what respect il is to be
changed, is matter left entirely in the
dark As every law makes some change
in previously existing law by adding td
or Substracting theretrom, the title An
act would appear TO convey fully a.
much actual. present information. 1t is
true that the title under consideration
gives reference 10 il source from whence
: informant II may be derived as TO The law
prop"-''d 10 be changed, but it gives ne
iiea whficNcr indicative 0t the change that
Is 10 he made. When the seeker after lnfJr.
NATION .leins all the reference indicates he
is driven back to the body of the new
law Ia find what the change is to be: d
source from which he never would have
straycd ii the object of tho new law had